Super by Decree: What "SI" Really Means—EP49

In late September, standing before the United Nations General Assembly, the President of the United States made an announcement about a word.

He said the word artificial was the problem.

In his words, it makes it sound fake, and it is not fake.

A week later, he signed an executive order.

As of September 29th, 2026, the federal government no longer says artificial intelligence.

It says super intelligence.

SI.

So here's the question for today.

If you rename something super, does it become super? Or does the word just stop meaning anything? By the end of this episode, you'll know the three thresholds the AI field uses to describe machine intelligence.

You'll know where today's systems actually sit on that ladder.

And you'll know what this order really changed and what it didn't.

What happened on September 29th? Two things happened at the White House that Tuesday afternoon, and it helps to keep them separate.

First, the president hosted the heads of the biggest AI companies for lunch.

Afterward, he and six of them signed a short document called the White House Accord on Superintelligence.

We'll come back to that later in the episode.

Second, he signed an executive order titled Inaugurating the Era of Superintelligence.

Let's take a moment on that term, because it matters for everything that follows.

An executive order is a directive from the president to the federal agencies that work for him.

It tells the executive branch how to operate.

But it is not a law.

Congress didn't vote on it.

And the next president can undo it with a single signature.

So what does this one require? It directs every federal department and agency to use the terms superintelligence and SI in official letters, public communications, websites, reports, and policy documents.

And it goes one step further.

The order says the executive branch will not acknowledge the terms artificial intelligence and AI.